Pasta Perfection: Mount Desert Island resident brings taste of Italy to Maine coast

WRITTEN BY JODI HERSEY

Lindsay Chaloux has a heart and a palate for fresh pasta. The 34-year-old local is the owner and sole employee of Mount Desert Island Girl Pasta Company.

“I like to think of pasta as a different vehicle to enjoy Maine staples [such as lobster, blueberries, and maple syrup],” said Chaloux, who grew up visiting Italy with her family and her school.

“I went to Italy the first time when I was 12 years old with my parents,” she said. “We frequented Italy a few times after that, too.”

Those visits, combined with Chaloux’s love of baking, inspired her to pursue a career in the culinary arts. However, it would take working in a much different field to eventually lead her back into the kitchen where her passion comes to life.

“I was working as a veterinary technician at the time when I found the opportunity to sell at the Eden Farmer’s Market in Bar Harbor once a week. I decided to see how much pasta I could make in one day and how much of that I could sell at the market,” Chaloux explained. “That first year showed me there was a market for fresh pasta in the area, because I kept selling out.”

In 2019, Chaloux took the leap and opened her business in a commercial kitchen she had built on her property. Doing so was a way for her to balance her work life with the demands of home without having to commute.

“It’s very convenient and was definitely required in order to start a business like this one,” she said.

With her apron on and plenty of flour on hand, Chaulox feeds a thin layer of dough through a machine that slices ribbon-like fettuccine noodles with perfect precision.

“It’s like a muscle,” she explained over the hum of the machine. “It works its way out, and the more you work it out, the more structure pasta has, and it will hold together and have more integrity at the end.”

Chaloux makes and sells a number of different fettuccines and raviolis in 8-ounce portions.

“I make five different kinds of ravioli and four different flavors of fettuccine,” Chaloux said. “It takes me about five hours to make 75 sellable units of three cheese ravioli, which is about 32.5 pounds of pasta. The tough part is that once I start rolling out dough, I need to finish it that day and get it into the freezer.”

She said the art of making this much loved carbohydrate can often be meditative.

“It’s very therapeutic,” she said. “I also love jamming to music while rolling it out.”

Chaloux’s products are for sale at some retailers and wholesalers like Tiller & Rye in Brewer, Acadia Provisions in Ellsworth, and the Blue Hill Co-Op in Blue Hill. She also continues to offer her pasta at local farmers markets, where she buys her own ingredients.

“The hallmark of Italian cuisine is to use the freshest ingredients possible, which I am able to get at farmers markets. I always use locally Maine-made cheeses and offer specials seasonally like lobster ravioli, dulse seaweed fettuccine, butternut squash and Maine maple ravioli, Swiss chard ravioli, and duck confit with blueberry compote ravioli,” she said.

Unlike dried pasta, Chaloux’s fresh pasta is full of flavor and takes just 90 seconds to cook. She said no matter how often she makes it from scratch, she has yet to tire of it.

“My family loves pasta, and my kids like pasta, so I try to make it as much as I can,” Chaloux said.

Customers can’t get enough of her products either.

“It is wonderfully fresh and tasty. Whether plain, flavored, or filled ravioli, this pasta is perfect for a main course or as an accent to any meal. The pasta is easy to prepare or it can be frozen and consumed at a later date,” Suzanne Finnegan, a customer from Massachusetts, explained.

“I look for MDI Girl Pasta Company products wherever I am shopping,” said Charles Stanhope of Southwest Harbor. “I have never been disappointed.”

Chaloux not only makes the pasta, she also packages, labels, and stores each individual portion in her commercial kitchen before the product is delivered. When she’s not doing that, she’s whipping together Italian desserts like Sorrento olive oil cake, torta caprese, and biscotti to offer customers.

“The pastries are an occasional special offering,” Chaloux said. “I sometimes offer biscotti at farmers markets. If someone asks for a special order, I would do it.”

Since she’s been in business, Chaloux said MDI Girl Pasta Company has allowed her to become more involved in her community.

“Owning a business in this area has opened the doors to getting to know and network with other business owners,” she said.

Balancing life as a mom of two with her passion for Italian cuisine hasn’t come without its challenges. However, Chaloux credits her ability to blend the two into a perfect recipe thanks to support from her hometown.

“It definitely requires a village, balancing being a mom and owning a business,” Chaloux said. “My husband and I are very fortunate to live in a very caring and supportive community. We have our family to help us out and we wouldn’t have gotten this far if it weren’t for them. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier with how it is now.”